An Illinois federal judge has denied class certification in a lawsuit accusing the Vrdolyak Law Group of secretly recording employees' and clients' phone calls, finding that inadmissible hearsay and limited recordings couldn't establish a firmwide practice, leaving the plaintiffs to prove individually whether their conversations were recorded.
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TOP NEWS

Vrdolyak Call-Recording Suit Can't Proceed As Class Action

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge has denied class certification in a lawsuit accusing the Vrdolyak Law Group of secretly recording employees' and clients' phone calls, finding that inadmissible hearsay and limited recordings couldn't establish a firmwide practice, leaving the plaintiffs to prove individually whether their conversations were recorded.

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Albertsons Says It Offered $800M To Save Kroger Deal

By Jarek Rutz

Albertsons Cos. Inc.'s general counsel testified Tuesday that The Kroger Co. passed on proposed store divestitures that could have helped save their $24.6 billion merger, while Kroger's lawyers pointed to information shared with Albertsons and challenged its complaints about the process.

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States' Suit Over Trump Energy EO Sparks Broader Questions

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge considering the Trump administration's bid to dismiss a multistate challenge to an executive order declaring a national energy emergency said Tuesday that the case highlights a broader dilemma: how courts should handle litigation based on "a single executive directive that sets in motion hundreds of agency decisions."  

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ENFORCEMENT

Ill. Lab Owner Charged Over $66M COVID-19 Test Fraud

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois laboratory executive has been charged with orchestrating a $66 million COVID-19 testing fraud scheme, allegedly fabricating negative results and billing a federal program for approximately 380,000 tests that were never performed.

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LITIGATION

7th Circ. Rejects Removal Of Hospital Patient Privacy Suits

By Danielle Ferguson

The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday joined a host of other appellate courts in determining healthcare providers were not "acting under" the federal government when they created patient web portals, finding actions alleging hospitals improperly shared patient information belonged in state court.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

The Law360 Pulse Leaderboard: A Look At The Top Firms

By Rachel Reimer

What makes a firm stand out in the ever-changing legal landscape? Here's a peek at the 2026 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard — the firms that can demonstrate excellence on measures of prestige and the reach and capability of their legal practice.

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Watchdog Can Pursue Jackson Walker Fees, Judge Says

By Clara Geoghegan

The U.S. Trustee's Office has standing to pursue millions of dollars in fees paid to Jackson Walker LLP in cases assigned to a judge who was in an undisclosed romantic relationship with one of the firm's ex-partners, a Texas bankruptcy court has concluded.

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6th Circ.'s Sutton Floats Class Action Limits At Judiciary Panel

By Jeff Overley

An influential federal judge is proposing new restrictions on class actions that aim to broadly block government policies, judiciary advisers heard at a Wednesday gathering, which also explored transparency ideas affecting legal finance and hard-to-access court records in the red-hot realm of immigration litigation.

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Ex-Employee Of Seyfarth Client Drops Suit Over Data Breach

By Craig Clough

A Texas woman who filed a proposed class action against Seyfarth Shaw LLP over a data hack voluntarily dropped the claims Tuesday without prejudice, according to a filing in Illinois federal court. 

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DOJ Moves To Remove Minn. Judges From Immigration Cases

By Britain Eakin

A top U.S. Department of Justice official has moved to disqualify two Minnesota federal judges from immigration cases, arguing that interviews they gave to The New York Times about the Trump administration's immigration enforcement efforts suggest they can't be impartial.

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FBI Says Fired Agents Acted in Politicized Manner

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Lawyers for the government argued in a Washington, D.C., federal court Wednesday that an unfair firing suit from two former FBI agents should be tossed because they worked in a politicized manner on the "Arctic Frost" investigation into President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

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Sen. Blackburn Clears Path For Trump's Tenn. Court Nominee

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has returned her blue slip for a judicial nominee for the Eastern District of Tennessee after an apparent delay.

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​​​​​​​Mamdani Taps Top Judicial Adviser Amid New Ethics Reforms

By Andrea Keckley

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Tuesday that he has appointed a lawyer from the New York University School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice to lead his judicial advisory committee as the mayor's office unveils new reforms to the city's judicial selection process.

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McCarter Beats Estate's Bid To Start $9.75M Interest Clock

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut state court judge has blocked a mall developer's family from filing a formal offer to settle a malpractice suit against McCarter & English LLP for $9.75 million, standing by a November 2025 decision to pause the case while similar litigation proceeds to trial.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Baker & Hostetler

CohenMalad

Cooley LLP

Cooper & Kirk

Dechert LLP

Gibson Dunn

Greenberg Traurig

Holland & Knight

Jackson Walker LLP

Jones Day

Kirkland & Ellis

Koskoff Koskoff

Kotchen & Low

Latham & Watkins

Law Offices of Beau B. Brindley

McCarter & English

MoloLamken

Morgan Lewis

Norton Rose

Richards Layton

Ross Aronstam

Rusty Hardin

Selendy Gay

Seyfarth Shaw

Sidley Austin

Skadden Arps

Spragens Law

Stranch Jennings

Strauss Borrelli

Sweeney Scharkey

Taft Stettinius

Vrdolyak Law Group

Weil Gotshal

Wiggin & Dana

Williams & Connolly

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Albertsons Cos. Inc.

Brennan Center for Justice

Burford Capital LLC

C&S Wholesale Grocers

CRA International Inc.

International Legal Finance Association

Lawyers for Civil Justice

Methodist Hospitals

NFL Enterprises LLC

New York City Bar Association

New York University

Parabellum Capital LLC

The Kroger Co.

The New York Times Co.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

California Attorney General's Office

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Delaware Court of Chancery

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Trade Commission

Health Resources and Services Administration

Judicial Conference of the United States

Texas Attorney General's Office

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Supreme Court

Washington Attorney General's Office